Why are almost all Canadian volunteers working with seniors women, as are roughly three-quarters of all health care volunteers? That's easy, you may say. It's because women are conditioned socially to take on such roles. According to Susan Pinker, author of 'The Sexual Paradox', it has more to do with biochemical drivers than society's expectations. Read article

In the UK, volunteering should be recognised as a legitimate job-seeking activity for young adults on Jobseeker’s Allowance, according to a cross-party inquiry focusing on volunteers between the ages of 18 and 24. The Morgan Inquiry recommended setting up an accredited volunteering scheme that matched unemployed young adults with skill-enhancing volunteering. Visit site

Middletown, Connecticut, USA:
In a speech referencing John F. Kennedy's ideas on the US Peace Corps, presidential hopeful Barack Obama stressed the importance of volunteering. He received big applause by saying he would offer all college students a $4,000 tax credit to help pay for college - but only if they commit to public service, such as the Peace Corps or teaching in an inner-city school or working in a homeless shelter.
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Beijing, China: A newspaper editorial from China highlights the vital contribution of volunteerism in earthquake relief efforts. "They sometimes might appear less than organized. There even were pleas once for them to refrain from entering disaster zones on their own so that professional relief workers had their way. But we cannot afford to imagine what things would have been like were it not for the compassionate involvement of the now-omnipresent volunteers..." Visit site